Dortmund down Bayern after Bundesliga ref drama

19 November 2011 07:46

Borussia Dortmund blew the German league title race wide open with a 1-0 win at leaders Bayern Munich, but the attempted suicide of a Bundesliga referee over-shadowed Saturday's matches.

German league referee Babak Rafati, 41, was discovered in the bathtub of his hotel room in Cologne by his assistant referees early on Saturday afternoon having tried to commit suicide by cutting open his veins.

Theo Zwanziger, president of the German Football Federation (DFB), confirmed Rafati's condition is stable and he is out of danger while praising the three assistant referees whose actions had undoubtedly saved their colleague's life.

"It is an extraordinary situation, when one of our top referees makes a suicide attempt," said Zwanziger.

"I have to say, the three assistant referees saved Babak's life."

Rafati is now being treated in an intensive care unit, two years after Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke took his life two years ago after battling with depression for several years.

The German league match Rafati should have officiated between Cologne and Mainz was called off 40 minutes before kick-off and will be replayed.

On Saturday night, defending champions Dortmund cut Bayern's lead at the top of the Bundesliga to just two points when Germany star Mario Goetze scored the winner at Munich's Allianz Arena in a tense game.

The win is a huge confidence boost for Dortmund who take on Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Dortmund claim second only by virtue of goal difference after Borussia Moenchengladbach Marco Reus scored a hat-trick in the 5-0 hammering of Werder Bremen to join Borussia on 26 points with Bayern on 28.

Like Goetze, Reus is one of Germany's rising stars and his three goals left him with seven in his last three league games and 10 from 13 Bundesliga matches this season.

Premier League side Manchester City and Bayern are just two of the teams interested in signing the rising star.

Venezuela midfielder Juan Arango and Patrick Herrmann added the other two goals as Bremen, who drop to fifth in the table, were well beaten.

Schalke moved up to fourth after Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, twice, Germany Under-21 captain Lewis Holtby and Raul scored in the 4-0 win over Nuremberg.

The Royal Blues were without both Peru forward Jefferson Farfan and Germany defender Benedikt Hoewedes, who both picked up injuries while on international duty last Tuesday.

Ten-man Hanover drop to seventh in the league after they were hammered 4-1 at Wolfsburg as Ivory Coast striker Didier Ya Konan was sent off for unsporting conduct after throwing the ball at Japan's Makoto Hasebe in the 58th minute.

Veteran former Bayern and Juventus midfielder Hasan Salihamidzic scored twice and the victory lifts the 2009 German champions up to 12th in the table.

Hertha Berlin were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, whose midfielder Stefan Reisinger hit the equaliser in the 95th minute.

Bayer Leverkusen warmed up for Wednesday's visit of Chelsea in the Champions League with a 2-0 win over Kaiserslautern with Michael Ballack getting on the scoresheet.